


The Runner (A Boarding School AU)

by MCUsic_to_my_ears



Category: The Runner - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 18:59:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7399822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCUsic_to_my_ears/pseuds/MCUsic_to_my_ears





	The Runner (A Boarding School AU)

No one knew their name. No one knew what they looked like, or anything about them. Only the legends that had been created to fill in the gaps behind the Runner. Go90, a boarding school in Richmond, Virginia held a singular mystery. One that grappled the minds of students and teachers alike. The Runner was a mysterious student, one that had only been seen a couple of times by stragglers in the halls. They all worshiped their adventures and secrets. The five core cliques of the school wanted the Runner as their own. And one day, the Runner would give them just that.

It started with a tweet, the only form of communication that administration hadn’t discovered and then banned. “I’m a woman,” it read, “Find me.” Sensations ran through the school as they read who was tagged. Two students from each cliques had been called upon. It was accompanied by a single picture. A riddle. All the teams met in the courtyard, near the fountain. “Why us?” Travis asked, the first to break the confused silence. “She thinks we won’t be able to do it?” James asked, reading the tweet again from his phone. “If you strike this rock with steel, your genius just might spark.The first word of where you seek, the runner has embarked. The second word is Sûza, (were Benazir Galbasi to speak) once they are combined, ask Bunting and Hewitt where to seek. Once you're in the zone, remember what you saw. The Runner sailed right by you. See the Pinnacle for you yaw.” 

“Or maybe she thinks we will,” Koa offered, “Maybe they- she wants us to to find her.” Everyone scoffed at one of the chosen leaders of the so called “Hippie” clique. He and Travis had been called upon by the Runner to lead the loose group of druggies, goths and foreign exchange students. “I doubt that. It’s just another one of her games. Like when she was toying with the teachers, sending them private emails.”

“It’s not like that. It feels different this time. She’s reaching out, unlike every other time some things popped up about her,” Brandon said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt. The other’s nodded in agreement as their phones went off, Twitter updating, “No DM’s. No working together. You’re now enemies.” It was from the Runner. The groups looked at each other, and then split off, beginning to decipher the clue. “Flint,” Jen said, pointing to the first line of the clue. “It sparks when it hits against steel.” 

“Benazir Galbasi is from The Lord of the Rings,” Alex told James, who was already Googling a Diorathin to English translator. “Sûza means shire, Alex,” James told him. “Bunting and Hewitt worked together on a children’s book called Flower Garden,” Ashley told Heather, looking up from her phone. James and Alex, the two boys selected to to represent the clues, sprinted from the St. James fountain to the Flintshire Garden, Raphael and Jen, who were jocks, were at their heels. Once they had rounded the back of the building, “I’ve had to work in the garden before,” Raph panted, trying to keep his information quiet, “We use a Pinnacle sprinkler.”

“Sail and yaw and both boat references,” Brandon whispered to his brother on his way to the garden. James and Alex were already leaving the garden, holding a notecard sized blue note. They hurried along. Once they’d passed the threshold of the gates, they saw the sprinkler hitting against a small, blue boat. They slid down next to it, pulling out a glossy piece of paper. “Chasers- You’ve missed The Runner. But you haven’t bought the farm just yet. Go find the farmer whose crops don’t grow, though they used to spark. He has Onodi and Sebewaing,” Brent read aloud as the brothers sprinted out of the garden, Ashley and Heather right behind them. They went off to the side as Ash pulled out her phone, googling Onodi and Sebewaing. He only opens once a week. The Runner’s there. Don’t be late,” Brent read aloud as the brothers sprinted out of the garden, Ashley and Heather right behind them. They went off to the side as Ash pulled out her phone, googling Onodi and Sebewaing. “They’re engineering equipment companies.”

“The engineering teacher calls his classroom a farm,” Koa said, pulling his hair back into a ponytail. “It’s on the third floor, let’s go, see if she’s there,” Travis answered, pushing the clue back into his pocket as they ran back to the building. Up the stairs the five teams went, searching their surrounding for a clue, maybe even the Runner herself. Travis and Koa were the first ones in the room, arriving just in time to see a mysterious figure, dressed in head to toe black, slip through the window. They slammed against the frame, trying to get a better look as the Runner sprinted away, students looking at her in awe. Brandon began to search the room for their next clue the second her entered the room, Brent just seconds behind. “This is a toy car, Raph,” Jen said, peering into the small flame of the Bunsen burner. Beneath that, she found a second blue piece of paper. 

“What does that mean?” Koa asked, pushing back his hair as he attempted to read the obscure shapes that were supposedly numbers. “It’s not in English,” Travis offered, just as bewildered. Brandon and Brent, leaders of the middle crowd, the group who always knew somebody who knew somebody, were at least a bit less confused than them, as Brandon said, “Each number clue is in a different numerical language.” Brent nodded and they started to work out what the other languages could be. “Not Hebrew, but Arabic,” Alex reminded his friend, pointing down the list. 

“What are those?” Heather whined, not used to seeing such strange symbols. “I’m not sure. Wait, Heather, she said no DMs, but could we use just use Twitter?” Ashley asked her friend. “Let’s try it,” she responded. “Well, this is America, we need America to help us out,” she decided, whipping out her phone. The others were beginning to get the same idea, mass tweeting the picture, asking their friends and family for help. “C’mon guys,” James mutter. “Search Korean characters,” Brent demanded as they waited. “Tweeting our friends, seeing what’s going on. Seeing if they’re smarter than us,” Koa laughed, trying to get a handle on the absurdity of the whole situation. James and Alex started to set up a hashtag, to keep their information separate from the others. #TheBrogrammers began trending around the school. “Search Korean characters,” Alex echoed Brent. “That’s so hard, what does that even mean,” Ashley complained again. “That’s insane, okay?” Heather asked, glancing at the window in hopes that her fellow woman would hear her. 

“Three numbers, three numbers, okay?” Alex said, “Oh, we got one is eight,” James replied, looking up from his phone, showing the tweet to his friend. “Why isn’t anyone helping us?” Jen asked, while across the room, Heather told her friend to “Shake it off,” at some of the less helpful Tweets they were getting in. Eventually, the Brogrammers had, mostly on their own, figured out what the three equations became. 935. They sprinted into the hallway, “That’s a math classroom,” Alex said. James nodded and they ran up flights of stairs, the other teams not far behind. Then, Ash and Heather, now trending on Twitter and #SweetNSavage reached the fifth floor, and the smell of pizza pulled them off course, after a quick bite, they continued their journey up through the school. 

Jen and Raph entered room 935, an advanced math classroom, and began to snoop around. “No good deed goes blank, so we’ll tell you where to be. Find the place where New York borders Tennessee,” Jen read, already tweeting the clue out with, ‘What’s the blank?’ as her caption. “Brent, look at this,” Brandon asked, a new Tweet being forwarded to him. “Follow protocol?” he asked, confused on what sport was being referenced by the scoring system. “It’s internet protocol,” Alex said, entering the IP address 50.112.75.235 into his phone. The word unfulfilled popped up immediately. 

“Dude, it’s monopoly,” Travis said, pulling up a picture when, sure enough, New York bordered Tennessee. “They’re two of the orange spaces,” Heather explained. “The other one is St. James,” Alex said to James, “As in the fountain here?” he asked. “It could be. Let’s go,” the boys sprinted after their false leads. “Unfulfilled,” Brent repeated, “Coupled with St. James, it could be a reference to Ms. James, who’s already on her third marriage. She says that world all the time,” he explained, as his brother didn't have the once again unwed teacher. “Let's go,” Koa said, after he and his brother, team #BrotherNature, came to the same solution as Team #BravoSquare. The race continued, James and Alex quickly realized they were in the wrong place,and headed toward the electronics hallway, where Ms. James taught several classes. 

On the doors that led into the hallway, hung another clue. “What comes after chalk and mother. And also after surf. In your case, you could also use it, as it is your type,” Raph read to Jen. “That's so easy,” Ashley said. “It's board,” Brent confirmed. The groups huddled with their partners, trying to keep every ounce of information they got private. “She teaches computer skills to the SPED kids,” Alex said, once they had reached the entrance. “Let's go, then,” James replied. 

Inside the computer lab, they search for the next clue, when suddenly, their phones blew up with notifications. “She posted a selfie on her Twitter,” Ashley announced. “Dude, she's hot,” James whistled, and Bravo Square couldn't help but agree. After a moment of awe at her toaster filtered beauty, they returned to their search. SweetNSavage were the first to find it, as they quickly ran out into the hall to try and uncover the hidden meaning of, “Where you’re headed next exists because of 1.8.17. Intuit Contos isn’t Latin, but a mixed up hint it would seem.” The Brogrammers, team of the nerds, figured out the anagram to constitution fairly quickly and team FriendZone, Jen and Raph, quickly learned that article 1, section 8, clause 17 established the District of Columbia.” 

“There’s a mural of George Washington outside the school, she has to be there,” Heather decided. Ashley agreed and off the two leaders of the popular crowd went, leaving the true answer back inside. “Floor one, room eight, seventeenth desk?” Raph suggested. “Wait, before we go, I’ve gotta pee,” Jen replied. After a five minute pee break, they were back on the run, sprinting down to the first floor where the Brogrammers were already searching the American Government classroom. “Seventeenth desk, Alex,” James repeated looked in and around them, trying to figure out how the counting went, up and down or side it side. Brent sprinted in, and immediately went to the back wipeboard. “Seventeenth name on the class constitution is Stephanie Patrick,” Brandon said. 

“That’s our librarian,” James said, seeing the clue moments after them. “Where are you guys going?” Travis shouted after Brent, following behind. “Library,” Koa whispered to his brother, who nodded in return. Ashley and Heather had just entered the history classroom, but found the clue faster than anyone else and quickly made their way to the library, where they quickly found a cipher sitting on one of the tables, along with the clue. “Winner of tHree OScars, acadEmy awarDs fOr best picture, adapted screenplay and film editinG,” Koa read. “The capital letters spell out ‘Whose dog,’” Jen said. “I’m looking up what movies about dogs have all those awards now,” Ashley pulled out her phone as Heather looked up famous dogs. “Uggie is a super famous dog,” she said. “But he doesn’t have those Oscars,” Heather replied. 

Several of the teams had already tweeted the clue out, but the Brogrammers were the first to get a response from their fellow classmates, “It’s Argo, in reference to The Iliad, by Homer.” They had already began decoding the cipher, but they had the wrong book. Raph was holding The Odyssey as he quickly worked on the cipher. Soon, the Brogrammers figured they had the wrong book, and switched. The other teams found the clue. “Hell with the lid off,” Jen read, looking up the phrase. “It’s a nickname for Pittsburgh,” Koa said. “We’re not leaving the city,” Alex told James, certain of that fact. “Then what’s the connection between Pittsburgh and the Odyssey?” he asked. After a moment, Alex said, “One of the lit teachers is from Pittsburgh,” he hit James’ shoulder, “She has a dog named Argos,” he realized. “Let’s go,” Alex replied. Other teams came to the same conclusion and ran off. 

The Brogrammers saw the Runner sprinting into the room, “Go!” Alex shouted. The girl looked behind herself, and then moved even faster. “Get her!” They continued on, the Runner racing down the hall, no longer stopping at the English literature classroom. With one final bound, James jumped and tackled the Runner. He flipped her around, “Brie?” Alex asked once he caught up. “What?” James asked, looking at his friend. “This is Brie Delkes. She joined the Marines last year,” he directed his attention to back to Brie. “Why are you back here?” 

“They’re making me,” she admitted finally, pulling herself up off the floor. “Who? Who’s making you do this?” James asked her. The other teams had gathered around. “The headmasters. Mr. Patrick and Mr. Larsen. I don’t know what they want, but they brought me back her to run from you. But here you go, I’m supposed to give this to you.” She handed them a check. “Seventy-five thousand dollars,” Raph whistled, holding hands with Jen. “That’s a lot of cash, Brie. Where’d it come from?” 

“The school. Expect another chase tomorrow,” she smiled. “Good luck.”


End file.
